Mt Alaska, Glenorchy
Mt Alaska is a mountain near Glenorchy, Otago, South Island. It can be hiked from the Mt Judah (Whakaari Conservation Area) parking lot. Most hikers do the Heather Jock Loop on the mid-slopes instead of continuing to the peak. To reach the foot of the Heather Jock Loop, you first have to take a long, easy track along the side Mt Judah.
In the Heather Jock Loop, I took the red track up and the purple track down.
Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
I did this hike two days before hiking Black Peak, the next mountain to the north. Mt Alaska took two hours less, and was more enjoyable.
All of these mountains are in the Whakaari Conservation Area.
Time
It took me around 6 hours to reach the summit, and around 5 hours to return. This includes breaks.
Route
The blue route is the track that leads to Heather Jock Hut. The red route is a faint impact track leading uphill. I followed it for a while, then doubled back, to ascend the spur which rises straight to the summit of Mt Alaska.
The Mt Judah (Whakaari CA) DOC parking lot is signposted up a tiny hill from the highway. It is on the right, driving from Queenstown to Glenorchy.
One mistake would be continuing to follow the Mt Judah-Mt McIntosh Loop when it starts going downhill. This track enters a small river, the Buckler Burn. Another mistake would be hiking up toward the summit of Mt Judah.
Otherwise, a grassy track leads to the foot of the Heather Jock Loop. It took me about 90 minutes to get there. I chose to do the loop counter-clockwise, because this looked like the steeper side of the loop. Red shows my ascent, and purple my descent, on the topomap screenshot.
The first hut is Boozer Hut, which is not indicated on the topomap (yet), perhaps because it was moved from a different location to preserve it from a landslide. The hut is
named after the drinking habits of a local shepherd who discovered the nearby scheelite vein.
A few minutes before Bonnie Jean Hut, the small Bonnie Jean Creek needs to be crossed. I stepped across easily. There is a photo below of the Bonnie Jean Hut’s interior.
At the top of the loop, shortly before I would have reached Heather Jock hut, I diverged somewhat uphill on a faint impact track. This is the red line on the photo. After diverging, I doubled back and ascended the tussocky spur toward Point 1506. From there it was a straightforward hike to the peak of Mt Alaska, although I took it slow once the tussock gave way to large areas of loose rock.
If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 2 up through 1600 meters of elevation (including the whole Heather Jock Loop), and a 3 for crossing loose rock on steep slopes beyond that. The grassy Mt Judah Track to the foot of the Heather Jock Loop is a 1. The Heather Jock Loop is a mix of 1 and 2.
From a little below the summit of Mt Alaska. Spur containing Point 1641 (left). Mt Judah (center-left). Spur that I ascended (center). Mt McIntosh-Black Peak (center to right). Mt Buck (far right).
Hunting
The route is not in a hunting area, but a hunting area begins at the peak of Mt Alaska. Hunters are forbidden to “discharge firearms near tracks, huts, campsites, road-ends or any other public place.” I have hiked in more than 30 hunting areas, and only passed hunters twice - this wasn’t one of those hikes.
Here is the DOC topomap with all hunting areas visible.
Other pages about the Heather Jock and Mt Alaska hikes
https://hikingscenery.com/mt-alaska-ascent-whakaari-conservation-area/
https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz/trip/mt-alaska-whakaari-conservation-area/
https://aliceadventuring.com/heather-jock-hut-glenorchy-hikes/
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown-lakes/boozer-hut-put-back-solid-foundations
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/mt-alaska (I didn’t expect anyone would make a loop involving the summit!)
Pages about the Mt McIntosh-Mt Judah loop
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/otago/mcintosh-loop
https://hikingscenery.com/mt-mcintosh-loop-track-whakaari-conservation-area/
Photo of Mt Alaska from my Black Peak hike
Mt Larkins (far left). Mt Alaska, and Point 2232 just behind it, appearing as if they are one peak (left). Stone Peak (center-left). Mt Judah (center-right, just left of the cloud). Heather Jock Loop track visible above the treeline on Mt Alaska (center-left). Mt Judah Track visible wrapping around Mt Judah.
